OSX special keys key bindings (home/end)

[justinohms]

I am trying to figure out how to set the Home and End Keys to take you to the beginning of the line and end of the line respectfully when in text edit mode.

I can't seem to find how to set or enable this or if it is even available.

[Aaron]

Hello,

This is an OSX convention. The keyboard shortcut to go to the beginning of the line on Mac is Fn(Apple) + Left Arrow, and to the end is Fn + Right Arrow.

[dempson]

Actually the standard Mac keyboard shortcuts for moving the insertion point to beginning/end of line are Command + Left Arrow and Command + Right Arrow. (The Command key is labelled "command" on recent US English keyboards, has a cloverleaf symbol on all keyboards, and also has an Apple symbol on older keyboards.)

Fn is not the same as Command. On Mac notebooks and recent small Apple wireless/USB keyboards, Fn + Left Arrow is Home and Fn + Right Arrow is End, but the Mac convention for the Home and End keys is "scroll view to start of document" and "scroll view to end of document" respectively. The same applies to the Home and End keys on extended keyboards.

Beyond Compare is following the Mac conventions for these keys.

[Aaron]

Right, my directions did not account for a Laptop that included an actual "Fn" modifier key. I'm referring to the Clover (or, on my Windows keyboard, the Windows key).

So would Fn+Left/Right as Home/End work the same as Cmd+Up/Down?

[dempson]

Not just laptops - all of Apple's keyboards have included a "fn" key since mid 2007. The small Apple Bluetooth keyboard (same layout as laptops) has been standard with iMacs since about 2009. Apple's USB extended keyboard (available as a separate purchase or as a build-to-order option when buying a Mac) also has a "fn" key, in the position of the separate "insert" key on a PC extended keyboard, but it also has separate "home" and "end" keys.

The correct name for the key with the "clover" symbol is "Command", as can be seen in System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard > Modifier Keys (button in lower right corner), which is where you can go to reassign which physical key maps to each of the modifiers (Caps Lock, Control, Option, Command). The "Fn" key (if present) is not configurable, apart from a separate setting which controls whether you need to hold it down in conjunction with the numbered F-keys to get the special function (such as brightness, volume, etc.) or the numbered F-key.

Apple's standard keyboard layout has Command next to the space bar, then Option next out (on both sides). If you are using a Windows USB/Bluetooth keyboard, it may default to the other way around: Alt (next to the space bar) maps to the Option key, Windows (next out) maps to the Command key.

Command-Up/Down are not the same as Home/End (or Fn-Left/Right, which generate the keycodes for Home/End). Command-Up/Down move the insertion point to the start/end of the document. Home/End scroll the view to the start/end of the document without moving the insertion point.

[Aaron]

Thanks for the detailed clarification on the differences in OSX keyboard navigation.

[lis0r]

On my Mac I've used ~/Library/KeyBindings/DefaultKeyBinding.dict to make home/end act like they do on a PC. This works almost everywhere else, but Beyond Compare doesn't seem to honour the change. Is there any way to make these behave linewise, rather than pagewise, please?

Thanks!

[Zoë]

Sorry, we don't support DefaultKeyBinding.dict right now, and don't have a way to override the text editing shortcuts. I looked into it a while ago, but due to BC's architecture, it would be a fairly significant effort, and we won't be able to consider it until after the 64-bit build ships and we catch up with some other big projects. I added your request to the tracker entry for the issue, so you should get notified if/when we add it.